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Compensations After Dismantling Separation Wall: Experts
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The Israeli separation divides Palestinian homes.
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By
Yasser Al-Banna, IOL Correspondent
GAZA
CITY, January 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Palestinian
law experts poured cold water on a UN decision to register
Palestinians' complaints on damages caused by the Israeli separation
wall, pressing, instead, for the implementation of the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on tearing down the barrier and then
compensating Palestinians.
“This
decision is tantamount to a recognition of the Israeli land grab,”
Fathi Al-Waheidy, a law professor of Al Azhar University in Gaza, told
IslamOnline.net.
“The
UN is telling Palestinians to accept the status quo and rest with
compensations,” he added.
The
expert underlined the need to immediately implement the Hague-based
ICJ ruling on tearing down the Israeli separation wall first and
paying compensations to the Palestinians harmed by the barrier.
Israel
claims the wall is necessary for maintaining its security.
Palestinians
- backed by international community and the UN - maintain that the
wall is nothing but an Israeli land-grab
and a bid to pre-empt the borders of their future state.
UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan has began setting up a registry to keep
records of reparations complaints by Palestinians over damage caused
by the Israeli controversial barrier, which cuts deep into vast
swatches of the Palestinian lands.
“The
UN registry will only be to record claims of damages by the
Palestinians and not to evaluate or pay them,” said the UN spokesman
Stephane Dujarric.
He
added that the payment would be left to Israel's existing compensation
mechanisms.
The
UN spokesman said the UN registry is likely to be set up in the West
Bank so as to be close to Palestinians filing damage complaints.
Annan
had not hired any staff or even found office space for the registry
and it was as yet unclear when the registry would start operating.
Grave
Consequences
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A Palestinian passes by the separation wall in occupied east Jerusalem. (Reuters)
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The
Palestinian law expert drew comparison between the proposed registry
and Israeli attempts to dodge UN resolution 194 on the Palestinian
refugees' right of return.
The
resolution clearly stipulates that Palestinian refugees “wishing to
return to their homes [inside what is now Israel] and live at peace
with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest
practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the
property of those choosing not to return.”
However,
Israel staunchly opposes the right of return and is only showing
readiness to negotiate about compensations.
Palestinian
lawyer Taleb Ahmed Al-Moghney also warned that the UN move carries
grave consequences.
“The
separation wall should be dismantled first, before talking about
paying compensations for damages.”
He
cautioned the Palestinian Authority against accepting any
compensations before dismantling the Israeli barrier.
“This
would mean that the Palestinian Authority accepted the construction of
the wall and render the ICJ verdict meaningless,” Al-Moghney said.
The
Israeli separation barrier is a mix of electronic fences and concrete
walls of which 120 miles (200 km) have been built.
The
600km-long wall will cut occupied Jerusalem off from the rest of the
West Bank.
It
will eventually snake some 900 kilometers (540 miles) along the West
Bank and leave even larger swathes of its territory on the Israeli
side.
According
to a report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA) with the competition of the wall, 30 percent of the
West Bank population, or some 680,000 people, will be "directly
harmed."
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